After 34 days and 183 rounds of bidding, India’s 3G spectrum auction is over. The results are provisional, and subject to government approval. The Indian government has managed to raise Rs. 67,718.95 crores from the auction, with Rs. 50,968.37 crores from private telecom operators, and Rs. 16,750.58 crores from the state owned telecom operators BSNL and MTNL. The two circles of Delhi and Mumbai together account for 39.19% of the total money raised, while the top five circles – Delhi, Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh account for 65.56% of the bids. The auction results, in a single chart:

While it did not participate in the 3G auction, BSNL will have to pay the Indian government Rs. 10,187 crores for spectrum in 20 of the 22 circles. Its costliest circles are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, at Rs. 4418 crores for the three circles.

Bharti Airtel

— Will pay Rs. 12,295 crores for spectrum in 13 circles, the most amount spent by an operator in this auction
— Has won spectrum in: Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir.
— It’s most expensive acquisition is spectrum in Delhi – Rs. 3316 crores, followed by Mumbai – Rs. 3247.07 crores
— Spectrum in 5 circles – Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (West), West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh is in the 1959-1964 Mhz band.
— Spectrum in 5 other circles – Delhi, Rajasthan, Assam, North East & Jammu & Kashmir is in the 1969-1974 Mhz band
— Spectrum won in Mumbai and Karnataka is in the 1974-1979 Mhz Band, and in Bihar is in the 1964-1969 Mhz band
— In a statement, Airtel has said that they wanted to achieve a pan-India 3G footprint, but could not, due to “the auction format and severe spectrum shortage along with ensuing policy uncertainty”, which drove the prices beyond reasonable levels.

Reliance Communications

— Will pay Rs. 8585.04 Crores for spectrum in 13 circles
— Has won spectrum in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East, Jammu & Kashmir
— Is one of the three operators to get both Delhi and Mumbai, both its most expensive acquisitions.
— Has won 3G in all circles where it has 900 MHz spectrum
— Is the only operator to win spectrum in 6 circles in the 1969-1974 Mhz band: in Delhi, Kolkata, Himachal, Orissa, North East and Jammu & Kashmir
— Has won all Category C circles for less than Rs 500 crores
— Claims to be the only operator that has pan India 3G capability in CDMA and among the top 3 with highest coverage in WCDMA
— Says it will have minimum 3G network CAPEX investment, and is 3G Ready
— RCOM plans to strongly leverage its media, gaming, cinema and broadcasting businesses for 3G

Aircel

— Has won spectrum in 13 circles for Rs. 6499.46 crores, the least cost per circle
— Does not have spectrum in the expensive but high ARPU Delhi and Mumbai circles
— It’s most expensive circles are: Karnataka (Rs. 1579.91 crores) and Rs. 1464.94 crores, followed by Andhra Pradesh at Rs. 1373.14 crores
— It has spectrum in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kolkata, Kerala, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh (East), West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, North East and Jammu & Kashmir
— Has spectrum in 7 circles in the 1974-1979 Mhz band: Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar, and Assam. This is the most circles any telecom operator has in a single band.
— Has spectrum in the 1964-1969 Mhz band in Jammu & Kashmir

— Has spectrum in 9 circles for Rs. 11617.86 million, and has spent the second highest amount in these auctions
— Opted out of most Category C circles, and got Delhi and Mumbai
— Has spectrum in Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Kolkata, Haryana, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh (East)
— Doesn’t have either Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh, so Vodafone Bangalore and Hyderabad customers will have to look to other telecom operators.

Tata Teleservices

— Will pay 5864.29 crores for spectrum in 9 circles
— Doesn’t have spectrum in Delhi or Mumbai, so Tata Docomo customers will lose out
— Has spectrum in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh
— Spectrum is equitably distributed within bands – three circles each for 1959-1964 Mhz, 1969-1974 Mhz and 1974-1979 Mhz band

S-Tel

— S-Tel won spectrum in 3 Circles for Rs. 337.67 crores
— It has spectrum in Himachal Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa
— Surprisingly, S Tel did not try to get 3G spectrum in circles where it doesn’t have license for 2G services. It has license to offer 2G services in Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, North East, Orissa.

MTNL

Though it did not participate in the 3G Auction, MTNL will have to pay Rs. 6564 crores for spectrum in the two cities of Delhi and Mumbai. It is currently grappling with losses (Rs. 1573.76 crores in Q4-2010), and a fairly low subscriber base of 3G customers – only 348,000 as of 31st March 2010, despite having launched services a year ago. Is it worth it, for MTNL?

Thanks Airtel for getting a spectrum in Bihar/JHK. But they missed the trick by not getting the spectrum in Kolkata.They would have loved to do that. If I would have been in Sunil Bharti Mittal's shoe. I would have taken spectrum for Kolkata and sacrificed West Bengal. I think Airtel must be having some Budget limitations. Nice to see entire North East being coverred by Airtel. Karnataka,Mumbai and Delhi are some good choices opt by Airtel. IN short proud to be a loyal Airtel Mobile customer from past 5 years. Keep it up. ) I purchased the Airtel Sim the very fast day Airtel was launched in Bihar. Now getting the returns.

AIRCEL_ Has spectrum in 7 circles in the 1974-1979 Mhz band: Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar, and Assam. This is the most circles any telecom operator has in a single band. No1 Top Mhz

I hate the fact that Airtel does not care about its Maharashtra users even after being the number 2 operator in the circle. (that too by a very small margin). An operator how has Mumbai must also have Maharastra and Gujrat.
Being a premium user getting a lot of frills from Airtel I hate to shift. All my loyalty privileges will go down the drain. But Airtel has left me with no choice.I hate Airtel for this.

@muhammed, u r right..Airtel and Vodafone show foolishness...they dont opt Kerala and ,which has most tech savvy users(aftr Mumbai) in india.i think idea will make good profit frm kerala.i'm working in kerala for 3 years.keralites have 2nd place in internet usage..

@muhammed, u r right..Airtel and Vodafone show foolishness...they dont opt Kerala and ,which has most tech savvy users(aftr Mumbai) in india.i think idea will make good profit frm kerala.i'm working in kerala for 3 years.keralites have 2nd place in internet usage..

Good to hear the auction is over. Cant wait for services to be launched. How long it might take for an operator to launch services?
@muhammed: Airtel and fodafone are not shelling so much money for no reason. They see more profits in other circles than "yours".And for your information, people of other states also use these services. After all we Indians are very good at talking... :)

Even though Delhi and Mumbai bids were very high these are the circles which are gonna give the operators maximum profit because initially even basic 3g services would cost between 1299 and 1599 per month for unlimited usage and approx 50p per MB for ala carte usage...At these tariffs only a majority of Corporate and HNI customers in Mumbai and Delhi will be able to afford 3G services..so these are the only circles which will profit..

Finally India will have an alternative revenue stream beyond voice. Data services, games, music, entertainment, mobile Internet access to be the focus as opposed to silly Re 1 and 1 paisa IVR and voice schemes. Good for companies with a data focus.

Airtel and Vodafone are not fools.They have invested in the metros circlesi i.e Delhi and Mumbai,which give the highest ARPU(Average revenue per user).Airtel has lot of earnings from Delhi and it was obvious Airtel would grab delhi and Mumbai.Vodafone did the same.

right. arpu is dipping in india. we have seen the best prices in recent years, at least the best competition since the mobile telephony started in india. i hope the prices dont dip further - because the moment they do that we will see consolidation and we'll be heading back to monopolistic days.

airtel and vodafone does a big foolishness in lossin 3G auction in kerala .most of them dont know kerala people is the best customers in india lets see which circle makes more profit in 3G .ihav sure its kerala and the winners are will be IDEA or TATA DOCOMO .SURE

im sure they haven't seen the big numbers in profit in kerala. while, you might be paying good money, that doesnt mean the whole state deserves paying additional premium for a smaller state. its nothing ersonal for them its just good business. with number portability coming in soon, why are you perturbed, there will be other players!

Rahul, i dnt think there wld be churn
hapng on the reason as you mentioned. i suppose TELCOS wld share the band with with other players wherein they hv nt won the bid.
Yes for sure this BSNL pricing wld fall flat

Lets wait and see how they implement the technology & at what prize.
Because bandwidth limited plans are not useful for tech savvy people , Current BSNL 3G plans are @
RS 2499/month for unlimited use. at this cost no one is going to buy it.